What oral issues should I be aware of during pregnancy?

Maintaining your oral health is an important part of keeping your entire body well, and never more so than when you’re expecting. If you’re pregnant or considering pregnancy, schedule an appointment with us, and remember to raise the issue of your oral health at prenatal appointments with Gentle Dental Associates.

If pregnant, we want you to be aware of the following oral health issues:

• Tooth Decay
Excessive morning sickness can also contribute to tooth decay, as the acids in your stomach introduced to the mouth during vomiting wear away the protective enamel coating on your teeth.

• Gingivitis & Gum Disease
This is a major issue. The precursor to gum disease is gingivitis, a condition in which plaque buildup on teeth irritates the gums, making them red, swollen and sensitive. The high levels of hormones in the bloodstream brought on by pregnancy exaggerate your gums’ reaction to irritation from plaque.

• Loose Teeth
Another risk faced during pregnancy is loosening teeth. The large amounts of hormones in your bloodstream can have an unfavorable affect on the bones and ligaments that create the foundation of your teeth, weakening them to the point that teeth may loosen.

The ideal time to schedule an appointment at Gentle Dental Associates is before becoming pregnant. We will perform a check-up to determine the state of your oral health and how pregnancy might affect you. We will discuss completing any necessary treatments prior to your pregnancy. Give us a call today!

Getting Social with Gentle Dental Associates

At Gentle Dental Associates, we embrace technology, whether it’s through the innovative treatments we offer, our high-tech web site or our social media. As you can probably tell, we love connecting with our patients online, whether it’s by sharing news on our blog or communicating ideas through Twitter, or on our Facebook page. For social media to work, we understand that conversation is vital, and that’s why we invite you to join in and tell us what’s on your mind. Although social networks are hugely popular these days, we know they’re unpredictable and ever-changing.

While we take a time to research how to best use social media, we thought we’d ask you, our loyal patients: How would you like us to use our social networks? What would you like us to share on our blog?

Please post your thoughts below, send us a tweet @GentleDentalA2, leave a comment on our Facebook page, or give us a call!

See you on the web!

What’s on your reading list?

With the school year close to winding down for a lot of our patients at Gentle Dental Associates, we wanted to remind all our patients about the importance of reading. Sure it’s easy to keep putting off reading this time of year, but reading is a vital step in brain development and literacy. And if you needed any more reason to read, May marks “Get Caught Reading Month.”

Today, we thought we’d ask: What's on YOUR reading list? What are some of your all-time favorites? Out of ideas for great reads? Ask us for suggestions, and our team would be happy to provide a few. You may also ask a local librarian for some ideas on what to read next!

Happy reading! Be sure to share with us your book picks or your all-time favorite novels or literature on our Facebook page!

Overcoming Dental Anxiety with Gentle Dental Associates

Do you feel nervous or stressed about your upcoming dental treatment? Well you’re not alone; in fact, almost 30 percent of the population experiences "dental phobia" when faced with visiting the dentist! This fear can prevent patients from getting the treatment they need. But it's also important to remember that postponing your dental visit can result in more treatment, which will just reinforce your fear of the dentist.

To help you relax at Gentle Dental Associates, we offer Nitrous Oxide Gas and are also able to prescribe medication prior to your appointment that will lessen your anxiety. There is no shame in being afraid, we are here to help you get the treatment you need. For more information about how you can overcome your fear of the dentist, please visit the DENTAL ANXIETY page on our website or give our office a call.

Below is a video of our patient, Brandon Osborn, discussing how he overcomes his dental anxiety when he comes in for an appointment.

Thanks to Invisalign®, Mom and Dad can have a perfect smile, too! From Gentle Dental Associates

Hey parents! Focusing on your kids' teeth and oral health so much that you're neglecting your own? If you've been thinking wistfully about having your own set of perfect teeth, our staff at Gentle Dental Associates can help! We are specially trained to offer an adult-friendly option for straightening teeth called Invisalign.

This course of treatment consists of a set of clear aligners that are molded to fit your teeth using a proprietary technology. You wear them all day and night, except for meals, brushing, and flossing – when you can easily slip them out to make eating and cleaning a snap!

Because they're clear, your teeth will be steadily straightening – and no one will know it but you!

Please give us a call to set up a consultation, so we can discuss the specifics of your treatment.

Gentle Dental Associates, Taking Steps to Reduce Our Impact on the Environment

Earth Day is this Friday, April 22nd, and we thought this would a great time to discuss the things that Gentle Dental Associates does to conserve our natural resources and the environment.

Currently our office is working on a three year plan to become completely paperless. Some of the ways we work towards this goal is through our Patient Login system powered by Sesame, which gives us the ability to offer our patients 24/7 online account access. It also lets us contact our patients through email rather than standard mail thus eliminating the use of the paper resources necessary to mail appointment reminders, statements, birthday greetings, newsletters, and other announcements. This service also saves our patient’s resources by allowing them to pay online. We also use software that records our patient’s periodontal health and progression and saves this information electronically which eliminates the use of large amounts of paper and printing materials. Gentle Dental Associates was the first office in Ann Arbor MI to offer digital radiography which eliminates the need for a toxic dark room and also allows us to send x-rays electronically to insurance companies and other doctors. We also encourage our patients to use white fillings that do not contain mercury and other metals. Our office has participated in the Ann Arbor Recycling program for five years. We continue to make sure and recycle our paper, plastic, glass, and metal.

We’d love to hear how you minimize your impact on the environment. Leave us a comment below or you can also visit our Facebook page and post something on our wall.

Happy Earth Day!

$1.50 for a Cavity!

Vending machines are a quick way to satisfy hunger. You put in $1.50 and you get back a candy bar, bag of chips or even a soda…but that’s not all! Gentle Dental Associates would like to remind you that vending machines not only dispense sweet treats and caffeine bursts, but they also dispense cavities!

Every time you chow down on that chocolate bar the bacteria in your mouth have a party feasting on the sugar. The sugar quickly turns into acid; that’s right, ACID!!! The acid sits on your teeth and eats away at the tooth’s natural enamel (the stuff that protects your tooth from decay). When this enamel is eaten away by the acid on your tooth, you get a cavity! Brushing your teeth after eating a sugary treat can help prevent cavities; but before you indulge remind yourself: “can’t brush? Hold the sugar!”

When choosing a snack, consider these nutritional options that will not only satisfy your hunger and that “sweet tooth,” but won’t cause acid build up resulting in cavities:

• Fresh Fruits (berries, oranges, melon, pears, etc)
• Raw Vegetables (broccoli, celery, carrots, etc)
• Bread
• Pretzels (low salt)
• Milk (low or non-fat)
• Cheese (low or non-fat)
• Nuts and seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc)
• Sliced meat

If you want more advice on how you can prevent cavities, ask your dentist during your next appointment at Gentle Dental Associates.